Akemi Gaines of Yes To Me has offered to share her knowledge about intuition, the ego, spirit guides, and the role they can or do play in our lives.

The synchronicity of how this interview came about is quite fitting to this topic.

I had been considering emailing Akemi to ask if she might like to be interviewed here on Loving Pulse. I had pondered this, battling with the ego, who told me that I probably couldn’t pull it off. I mean, Akemi had been interviewed a couple of months previously by Hunter Nuttall. I didn’t think we could add any more to that. Little did I know….

A day later I received an email from Akemi herself. She wondered if I would be interested in interviewing her. You can imagine my surprise… and delight. And so without further adieu, I’d like to open the floor to Akemi.

Welcome Akemi, and thanks for making this interview possible.

Akemi: My pleasure, Davina and readers!

1. I’d like to start off by first asking, how would you define intuition?

Intuition is the communication from our higher self, spirit guides, and beyond.

2. Is it true that all human beings have intuitive abilities? Do we sometimes lose our connection with them as we grow into adulthood?

Of course we all have intuitions! It’s more of a matter of whether you recognize the signals from the spiritual plane, and how well versed you are at understanding the signals. Some develop their intuitive skills further, and some ignore the messages or close up the connection because they are taught logics are superb.

Davina: I can imagine that as we grow into adulthood we can get caught up in logistics and fed false beliefs from our egos that cause us to block or lose touch with our intuition.

3. What type of signs or sensations would you suggest a person be aware of to recognize guidance from their intuition?

There are four major pathways where spiritual messages come through:

Immediate knowing (claircognizance);

Physical sensations (clairsentience);

Non-physical sounds (clairaudience); and,

Non-physical images (clairvoyance).

Each person has a unique skill level with each communication pathway. Many people are good at claircognizance or clairsentience (sometimes called gut feeling) but fail to recognize they are receiving spiritual messages.

Intuitive input may be subtle and come in a flash, but it is not confusing. Our spirit guides don’t play games such as giving us a hint and testing to see if we can figure it out, or manipulating us with anxiety-causing threats or guilt.

Davina: You know, sometimes I feel like they are playing games when I try to interpret some of my dreams. I’ve caught myself thinking, “Oh come on… in English puhlease! No more symbols!” I see that you speak to this a bit later in Part 2 when we discuss dreams so I won’t say anymore here.

Akemi: Ha ha… I know what you mean Davina. Let’s see if I can clarify this. I guess spirit guides don’t mean to play games, but they do have a slightly different frame of reference.

For example, “marriage” means long-term romantic relationship for them, and not necessarily the legal status. So if you ask them if you are getting married, you may get a positive vibe and months later, still find you’re legally single with a caring boyfriend.

What to say, they live on a spiritual plane! They also don’t seem to understand money very well, but they do understand we want or need certain stuffs. And as you point out, they love symbols. For them, symbols are more direct and accurate than language. So these kind of communication challenges do exist between us and our spirit guides. This is why we need to practice the communication.

Oh, and additionally, they are very respectful for our initiative. Sometimes, they give us just enough info so that we can start working on it. They don’t do the part of work that is justifiably ours. That is different from playing guessing games, but it may feel similar to some of us.

4. What can a person do to increase their intuitive abilities?

The first step is to clean up the mental clutter so that the gentle communication from the spiritual plane can be recognized. Meditation is a great way to do this. Many of my Akashic Record Reading clients report increased sensitivity to intuition as they clear their energetic blocks.

Davina: I can attest to that after having experienced an Akashic Record Reading with you Akemi. I’m feeling a greater ability to trust in what I cannot see. An analogy would be like a child who is learning to walk. After a while they don’t fear falling down anymore and walking comes naturally. Soon they are running and jumping.

Akemi: Exactly! Another analogy would be learning how to drive. In the beginning, you are so overwhelmed. You need to look around, check certain signs and signals, understand which sign means what, while you adjust the pressure on the gas or brake, and . . . OMG! But after awhile, it becomes second nature. And the prereq for driving is you have clear mind.

5. Akemi, I know some people do not resonate with the idea of meditation. Personally, I go through phases where I simply cannot, or do not want to sit for any length of time and meditate. This may indicate some resistance to tuning in, or it could be that sometimes we are just on another channel so to speak. Can you suggest other ways to practice listening to or for your intuitive voice?

Although sitting quietly is the standard form of meditation, it doesn’t always have to be that way. The objective is to calm our mind so that our soul has a chance to come forth. So any method to calm our mind is meditation.

For some people, walking along the quiet nature trail is a form of meditation. In both Christianity and Buddhism, there are forms of standing or walking meditations.

Sometimes, you also “accidentally” get into the meditative condition when you are relaxed and immersed in what you are doing, such as in the bath or while doing sports. Automatic writing is also very effective.

6. I suspect that intuition is never wrong, just your expectations or perception of the possible outcome is. What would you say to this?

Our ego’s fear and prejudice can certainly get in our way to appropriately understand intuitive knowing. The ego is very afraid of us connecting with our higher self and spirit guides because that would mean it can no longer be the tyrant it is for most of us.

But we need the thinking function to interpret the intuitive knowing, so it’s more about training the ego than killing the ego (which would be impossible). There is an art in appropriately understanding intuition as we discussed earlier.

7. What is the difference between our subconscious and our intuition?

In addition to our conscious mind, we have the subconscious and the superconscious mind. The conscious and the subconscious minds are attached to our physical body.

The superconscious on the other hand, transcends the physical body. At this time, I consider the superconscious to be the soul – which lives many lifetimes. Some people consider the superconscious as representing the collective consciousness; it transcends the individual consciousness. That is an interesting perspective too, and I contemplate what these two perspectives may mean.

Intuition is the communication from our higher self (which is another way to refer to the soul or the superconscious) and spirit guides. It is communicated to our subconscious and conscious minds.

8. When you receive a first instinct or gut reaction, would you say that it is your intuition at work? Would you necessarily act on your instinct? What about the old saying, look before you leap? Doesn’t that contradict this whole idea?

An “instinct” can mean either the immediate intuitive knowing or the ego’s fussy scream. With practice and experience, you can tell the difference. If I hear “Don’t take that road!”, I act on it right away – what negative result can come from this even if my intuition were wrong? Being a few minutes late because I took the back road? And what if it were right? Saving my life? Now that is a decision the conscious mind makes with the intuitive input. Other times, you may decide to “look before you leap”.

Davina: Aha, so sometimes the “instinct” can be the ego! This is tricky business. Up until now I thought that the ego came after an instinct as a judgment call.

9. When someone such as yourself works closely with your spirit guides, how do you stay grounded and present in your daily life?

This is a very important question for anyone who does a lot of spiritual work. We do have the tendency to be too up high in the ether and we definitely need to ground ourselves.

After I’m done with my work, I close my conscious connection to my spirit guides. My spirit guides are always with me and can contact me any time, but I close the door from my end with the understanding that they can open it as they see fit.

In addition, I strive to take time to do some grounding work such as exercising and cooking. I’ve heard gardening works well too, by literally touching the ground.

Davina: So, it sounds like you close the door so to speak, and go about your business, while keeping a listen in case they knock.

Davina: I think this is a good spot to take a break for today. So, Akemi if it’s ok with you and your guides *smile*, let’s close the door for now. We will continue on Monday with Part 2 where Akemi talks about déjà vu moments, light bodies, dreaming and out of body experiences. Wow!

I hope you will join us.

In the meantime, please ask Akemi any questions you might have or share your thoughts below. And, if you are new here and you don’t want to miss Part 2 please subscribe to the feed.